2008 Woodie Awards
Senior staff goodbyes: Cristina Cala, Copy Editor
Cristina Cala, Copy Editor
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: Opinion
Comma splices, misplaced modifiers, starting a sentence with a gerund and overuse of the word "as" are just a few of my favorite things to eradicate.
In my two years as copy editor of The Jambar, the AP Stylebook has become my bible. For one year I worshipped peacefully; then Richard Boccia came on staff. Those in the newsroom who have witnessed Richard and me argue to death-by-red-pen over hyphen placement know how heated copy-editing nerdery can get.
Working at The Jambar has fostered so many things, mainly my obsession with eating Coyoacan burritos at least once a week.
Besides the deadlines, headlines and fine lines between journalistic integrity and sanity, it gave me an outlet for The Yo' Magazine: my journalistic lovechild with The Jambar's cold, creepy-at-night Fedor Hall basement.
My three semesters as editor in chief of The Yo' Magazine have fostered breakdowns, five-day stretches with four dollars of sleep (unit of measurement for the sleep-deprived), threats to come to campus in a bathrobe, interruption of an induction ceremony when the use of odd fonts corrupted nearly every PDF of the winter issue, and any and every other last-minute detour on the road to print.
But my fellow staff members have been there behind me, my drama, my impersonations, my mood of the hour. I can't express my gratitude for those who worked with me on The Yo', and hope that my Yo' successors continue to make me proud after I'm gone.
On production days at The Jambar, we've all got our roles and our corners of the newsroom that make us unique. The designers are lax while they paginate, Adam Rogers listening to his pop music, Andy Berry with his classic rock, Brian Cetina with his emo. Adrienne Sabo's the managing mama who understands all my problems but can't understand why I don't like country; news editor Sarah Sole is not listening to music because she's interviewing on the phone. Then there's Richard and me copy editing, wishing everyone would either use headphones or play glorious Madonna.
In my two years as copy editor of The Jambar, the AP Stylebook has become my bible. For one year I worshipped peacefully; then Richard Boccia came on staff. Those in the newsroom who have witnessed Richard and me argue to death-by-red-pen over hyphen placement know how heated copy-editing nerdery can get.
Working at The Jambar has fostered so many things, mainly my obsession with eating Coyoacan burritos at least once a week.
Besides the deadlines, headlines and fine lines between journalistic integrity and sanity, it gave me an outlet for The Yo' Magazine: my journalistic lovechild with The Jambar's cold, creepy-at-night Fedor Hall basement.
My three semesters as editor in chief of The Yo' Magazine have fostered breakdowns, five-day stretches with four dollars of sleep (unit of measurement for the sleep-deprived), threats to come to campus in a bathrobe, interruption of an induction ceremony when the use of odd fonts corrupted nearly every PDF of the winter issue, and any and every other last-minute detour on the road to print.
But my fellow staff members have been there behind me, my drama, my impersonations, my mood of the hour. I can't express my gratitude for those who worked with me on The Yo', and hope that my Yo' successors continue to make me proud after I'm gone.
On production days at The Jambar, we've all got our roles and our corners of the newsroom that make us unique. The designers are lax while they paginate, Adam Rogers listening to his pop music, Andy Berry with his classic rock, Brian Cetina with his emo. Adrienne Sabo's the managing mama who understands all my problems but can't understand why I don't like country; news editor Sarah Sole is not listening to music because she's interviewing on the phone. Then there's Richard and me copy editing, wishing everyone would either use headphones or play glorious Madonna.
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